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Soaring student debt? Now Aeroplan points can help bring it back to earth

OSAP will let grads use their points to pay off their student loans.

Graduates facing a huge debt load when they leave university or college can now use Aeroplan points earned flying or buying goods to pay down their Ontario student loans. (Melissa Renwick / Toronto Star) | Order this photo

In what’s surely a twist on the laws of money management, Ontario grads now can use a “points card” to actually get out of — not into — debt.

Loan-laden college and university graduates can fly, shop and charge their way to a smaller loan balance now that the province will let them — or any kind-hearted friend or relative — use Aeroplan points to pay down their Ontario student loans.

While the chair of the Canadian Federation of Students-Ontario says the plan “treats Ontario’s student debt crisis like an episode of Extreme Couponing,” the College Student Alliance hails it as “another avenue for paying off student debt.”

“Now a points card can go to something a little more positive,” said communications manager Veronica Barahona.

The Ontario government announced Wednesday it has partnered with a private company called Higher Ed Points that will convert every 35,000 Aeroplan points — earned by flying Air Canada or using a TD or American Express Aeroplan credit card, for example — into a $250 payment towards the student’s debt under the Ontario Student Assistance Program (OSAP).

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It’s the latest move Aeroplan and Higher Ed Points have made into higher learning. A growing number of colleges and universities, including York, Ryerson and most GTA community colleges, are already letting students use the system to pay tuition. While few students have used it yet — only a couple at Ryerson, a handful at Centennial — these institutions say they plan to promote the option more as this fall’s tuition comes due.

But letting students also use Aeroplan points to pay down student debt “will offer students and graduates another innovative way to invest in themselves and their future," said MPP Reza Moridi, Ontario’s minister of training, colleges and universities.

Alberta started to let grads use the system to pay down debt back in March. Already, actuarial science grad Charles Bernatchez has knocked $1,500 off what he owes by dipping into his hefty bank of Aeroplan points, earned from frequent flights between his Edmonton home and the Montreal head office of his employer. He also uses his own Aeroplan American Express card to cover upfront expenses for a youth group with which he works.

“Ironically, I can’t afford to travel myself until I pay off my student debt,” said the 26-year-old, who owed $40,000 when he graduated. “I’m going to keep paying it off with Aeroplan points; it’s a great way to take some of the weight off.”

The average university graduate owes about $22,200 after a four-year degree, and a two-year college grad owes on average about $13,000.

The president of the Ontario Undergraduate Students’ Alliance said that the program, while it’s handy for those who can afford to earn points, “wouldn’t be something a large portion of students will be able to benefit from.

“It seems like an odd, disconnected way to pay back OSAP; you wouldn’t normally associate it with a retail benefit,” said Spencer Nestico-Semianiw.

However, Suzanne Tyson, founder of Higher Ed Points, said “it’s not meant to be the solution” for making higher learning affordable, “but part of the solution. Already some $120,000 in tuition and student loan offsets have been converted through this plan.”

One Toronto employer cashed in his Aeroplan points and put them toward summer course tuition for three students, she said.

“The average student redeems about $1,000 worth of points. And it’s often not the students themselves, but parents and grandparents, who make the donation.”

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